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Chapter 2
OOOOOOO Dragonball Multiverse ' Chapter Two '''Know Thy Enemy ' OOOOOOO Goten and Trunks hadn't been born during the era of Cell's terrorism and didn't feel anymore enmity towards him than the rest did. Pan and Uub were absorbed by the energy of the crowd and less from the tension between the universes this early on. Everybody else stared at Cell, the last time they'd seen him was watching his obliteration at Gohan's hands at the end of the end of the Cell Games. The lizard creature had been so tense then, launching a Kamehameha Wave with furious power rippling around him as he strangled Gohan's counterattack with unwavering force. Now it just seemed contradictory that Cell stood there in his "perfect form" looking bored, like he had no reason to move for 10 years. "He must have killed all of us in his reality and conquered Earth... or destroyed it." whispered Piccolo. Cell paced over to them, drawing venom from Gohan and saw Cell and shivered by her grandfather's leg. The androidsmirked. "So... you must be the Goku, Gohan, and Piccolo of a different reality, just like that bird creature said." Cell addressed them, suddenly spotting Pan behind Goku, "-I see you've girded your loins since then Goku... oh, and you too, Son Gohan." "-If you're here, then that means you destroyed the Earth like you said you would in our last fight." said Gohan. "No, I didn't destroy the Earth. Did the Cell of your world try that? Ha, what fools, did you really think that I could destroy the entire solar system? What a waste of energy. And after fighting you Gohan, with half of my strength left I'd have needed every last calorie to slaughter all of your friends that you couldn't protect even after pushing yourself so hard. Gohan boiled. "If I remember it correctly, Vegeta went down first. He was the only one who had the slightest chance to stop me with that Flash-whatever of his. The rest tried to gang up on me, but their efforts were in vain, ha! I killed Piccolo by chopping off the upper-half of his body and slicing through his head. Tien was next, killed by an energy disc thrown by his own comrade that I deflected. I took Yamcha down with my own hands and tossed all of the organs from his body. The last one to go was Krillin, oh he fought the hardest of them all! He scorched the earth just to eradicate me. I remember the way he looked at me with all his hatred after seeing me kill his friends... I remember the surreal way his eyes bursted with blood and horror when I dragged him into the cold vacuum of space... Stifling his breaths, Gohan's fists whitened with signature anger, but he turned away and abandoned Cell and these sick machinations. Cell chuckled, "You're a lot stronger than I remember Gohan, but your age has started to hone your instincts. If the Gohan I faced had this kind of control, maybe I wouldn't be here right now." Goku stepped in. "You forgot something Cell. Ten years from our present, I'm still here and so are Trunks, Vegeta, Gohan, and Piccolo. So what do you think happened in our world that didn't happen in yours?" Suddenly, Cell stopped smirking. "I'll admit that you remind me more of the versions I faced than that other group over there." ooooooo Vegeta, meanwhile, ignored Cell's presence, disappointed that such a disgusting creature had survived somewhere. The scalding glare on the prince's face was caused something more vexatious, something that he hadn't pondered for a very long time. His heritage and his people were an ancestry of warriors from a distant planet destroyed long ago by an incident of fate. He was once the Prince of these people before they were wiped out by a cosmic blast, erasing nearly every trace of the Saiyans from the universe that they once held all claim too. But this wasn't about a single universe anymore, no, he had to accept the Vargas's story with the reappearance of something as evil as Cell. ''The usual arm-folded, nonresidential confidence that Vegeta had was disturbed when he swept his eyes around the stadium, spotting two other people that greatly resembled him. One of these people looked exactly like him except that he was outfitted with a venetian cape that glowered down his back and Saiyan armor like the one he wore to Namek. The other was more barbaric-looking, wearing a gray tunic and pants, and a brown cape under which his tail sat like a loyal pet. That one even had a beard that matched his father's. Both shared his exact same height. '' ''The "tailed" Vegeta was surrounded by a group of other tailed Saiyans, none of whom Vegeta recognized from the Saiyan Elites who populated his father's palace as part of the royal guard and his father's proudest warriors. The airy figments of his memory pointed out the low-class soldier Bardock and his team which was confusing, but then Vegeta had run into too many fighters to question the potential of the Saiyan race based solely on rank. But rumors had circulated around Planet Vegeta that Bardock was actually a scientist, not that Vegeta had ever confirmed the rumor or cared enough to see if it were true. '' ''The "caped" Vegeta was more annoyed, with less dignity in standing there and watching the proceedings in front of two comrades. Vegeta blinked when he saw that his two, less fortunate Saiyan brethren and underlings existed in that universe apparently surviving the invasion of Earth. This Vegeta had either spared them; or Raditz had bested Goku and Piccolo on Earth. Vegeta paused as he sensed a fourth energy signature inside of that area resting deeper within the universe's accomodations but decided to ignore it. '''These universes had many screws loose, most that would need to be punched back into place. '' A sadistic smile crawled along his lips. His daughter, one of the more important things those other two realities lacked, approached him, "What's wrong dad? You're... smiling?" "Nothing." was his flat response. ooooooo ''Goten and Trunks dashed around the sections of the stadium where the previous seventeen balconies had been filled. '' ''Watching them was a hairless creature sporting a tail. saw the two boys as they whipped their attention from him and his entourage to the next group. The mighty Lord Frieza of Universe 8 was irritated that the Saiyans, a bunch of bloodlusted monkeys on a regular day, had taken the opportunity of his absence to evolve into monkeys that wore clothes in these alternated universes. The observation amused him for a moment, only until the two Saiyans passed. '' "Saaaaaiyans again..." the frost-faced demon mumbled in a dark voice. "It looks like we're missing from most universes." said King Cold, father of the frost-skinned demons who were capable of assuming multiple forms, "The scum should be eliminated everywhere." "All of that will come true." a second son of Cold, the one known as Lord Cooler, interjected and stalked closer to his father. "Now that we've found Namekians that can actually grant wishes instead of letting themselves get killed. We're not going to miss that - we'll make all of these universes kneel before us." "Well of course." Frieza chimed, "When ants wage war with dinosaurs, who do you think emerges the victor!" ooooooo "Look, its Majin Buu!" shouted Goten, pointing at one of the balconies. The pink skin, the needle-size holes in his head, the winsome tail on his head, and the obese form. To think that a goof like that could subdue both Vegeta and Goku, their sons would never have believed it if they hadn't been clobbered by the beast themselves. Buu was standing proudly right behind the ringmaster of that group, the evil wizard Babidi, and his servant Dabura, the former Demon King, was right beside him. The circumstances of their encounters made it obvious that these three couldn't have existed unless Earth's Special Forces were killed sometime between the 25th World Martial Arts tournament and Buu's attack on West City. Vegeta once said that the evil wizard's soul still lingered onward in the bowels of Hell around the same time Vegeta had killed himself while desperately trying to finish off Buu, something that Babidi supported because he'd obviously lacked any form of control over his vehicle of destruction. So many questions rose like how Babidi kept control over Buu and how was Dabura still alive; how were Frieza and Cell here and what had gone wrong so as to assure that they would be determined to be the "strongest fighters" in their own universes, and what could spawn off so many of these different warriors that didn't look like Saiyans or weren't related to Goku or Vegeta's families? Not as troubled as his friend, Goten argued with Trunks, "But this is great, don't you see? It means we'll get to fight all of the guys did! We're going to kick some serious ass all the way down memory lane!" Trunks nodded and they bumped fists. More than ever was he glad that the Vargas allowed them to subscribe Gotenks for the tournament. ooooooo Piccolo spotted a unified group of Saiyans and Namekians from Universe 10 - the lack of racial spite between the two was a positive, startling difference from Universe 18 where Vegeta had whimsically slaughtered Nameks. "This must be a universe with no Frieza." observed Gohan, "I doubt they could turn into Super Saiyans, they don't seem to be able to suppress their own energy. If they could sense energy, they'd probably know how outclassed they are." "I know, Pan could probably beat most if not all of them." Goku smiled. "The Saiyans and the Nameks must have joined forces to make up for each others' weaknesses as a group. These Saiyans don't have scouters or any of the armor or technology we've seen them with, and the Namekians aren't typically known for having a number of powerful warriors. Nail and myself were an exception - I'm to going to over therefor a bit." Piccolo took off suddenly, hovering in the air before his body disappeared in a blink of speed. Gohan shrugged, watching Goten and Trunks as they dashed over to that same universe's balcony. Good luck, I don't think our alternate universe ancestors are going to like us very much. "Say dad, don't you want to meet your father? He's got to be in that crowd of our Saiyan ancestors, right? I mean, its a once-in-a-lifetime chance." "I don't know... he isn't my father to me." despite the desolating words, Goku's voice was still a source of innocent suggestion. "Maybe he'd like to know you?" ooooooo Universe 17-down were rather boring. 16 was empty and the occupants were missing; 15 housed a single alien mother who complained about her labor pains, where as 14 held the unfriendly, teenage comments of two people, a boy and a girl, whose energy signatures neither Trunks or Goten could sense at all. That scared them towards 13 where Trunks saw his father and moved on, and then to 12 where a strange, sword-carrying man was sitting down with a more heavily-built, robot-like man. They greeted the two boys and shared few words with them, though the swordsman appeared detached throughout their conversation. Trunks felt weird being around him and they respectfully departed to the next section. 11 was Babidi & Buu of course. And then there was... "Are you the King of these guys!" shouted Trunks. "Wow! Wow! Wow! That's so awesome! ...Universe 10, the universe of Saiyans from the old days and Namekians who had somehow joined with them. There were two versions of his father, both still had their tails and had very distinct beards. And without a Frieza to monitor them, these Saiyans wouldn't have had any need for space travel or have been rendered extinct. But they must have been very old if Bulma's records based off of Vegeta's accounts of the Saiyan race were accurate, even if Saiyan biology kept them in their prime they should have suffered some kind of age-related deficiency? "This is all so strange." said Goten, wandering the crowd of his ancestors, "Ummm, excuse me, I'm looking for someone among you. He should be the father of a son named Kakarot." The bearded Vegeta proclaimed, "Who dares call for me like that? I am King Vegeta, ruler of Plan-" "No, not you, stupid! Your father!" The King shrunk and his left eye twitched. "I'm warning you brat, continue to annoy me and I'll crush you like a grape." "Oh please, either one of us could wipe the floor with all of you with a hand tied around our backs." "Grrrr, you DARE INSULT ME BOY!" King Vegeta raised his fist. "Chill, in my universe you're the prince of saiyans. I just wanted to know what happened to your son." "I don't know or care what happened in your universe. But when I came of age, I became King. My father is over there." Trunks saw that King Vegeta was pointing at the other bearded version of Trunk's father. This one was actually Trunk's grandfather-in-law and despite the theory that Saiyans didn't age past their prime looked a lot older than any of the other Saiyans and even walked with a cane. This elder King Vegeta saw him and paid him little mind. He was more focused on Goten who was patrolling around looking for anyone who slightly resembled his father or even his older brother. "He's the father of G... er, Kakorot!" Often the response was, "Kakarot? Never heard of him..." But eventually a disappointed voice answered, "I had a son named Kakarot... but he died a long time ago." "Woah...!" Goten shouted excitedly. "...when I see your face, I just know it's you!" The Saiyan who'd answered him squinted with confusion. "How did you know the name of my second son?" "Well I'... I'm sort of... your grandson in my universe." "You're kidding." "Bardock! Stop loitering with these children! My guess is that they're renegade Saiyans in their universe, they don't even have tails!" called King Vegeta. "Bardock? N-no wait, hold on! Is your wife around here somewhere? Can I get a picture of you together!" pleaded Goten to a very conflicted Bardock. A group of Nameks stood behind the Saiyans and were watching the spectacle with amusement. Trunks asked, "What, there are Nameks back there?" "Those bird creatures claimed that the green creatures were one of the strongest other groups in our universe, and we brought them along just to prove that the Saiyans are the strongest of our two groups. I don't know or care about what those 'Namekians' want once we win, but we've agreed that both my father and I get two of the three prizes." And with that remark, King Vegeta excused himself from the conversation. ooooooo The bulk of Universe 10 was split between the group of Nameks and Saiyans with the leader of the Nameks communicating between the two groups. This male warrior was Nail, his essence was what Piccolo had instantly recognized as he materialized over the Saiyans and floated toward him. There were jeers and comments about him, he ignored them, and Nail responsively approached him when he landed. This version of Nail was probably the strongest Namek here, just like he had been on Namek, and evidently he was the leader of the Nameks. Like fish in a river, the two of them orbited one another and studied their similarity. Piccolo wondered whether or not this Nail had fused with his version of Piccolo and simply taken dominance after the merging. "Hello Nail." Piccolo began. The warrior Namek bewilderingly asked, "...Are you part of the new group? So, there's another universe with only one Namek in it? Heh, I guess that's better than the rest that don't contain any Nameks." Piccolo skipped the small talk. There were more important questions to ask - had he and Nail met in that universe, or was there a coalition between Nameks and Saiyans in that world, and was there even a Frieza in their universe to begin with? Nail responded to this simply, explaining that he had never met any Namek named Kami or Piccolo and that the members of Frieza's family had been defeated long ago. That and the Saiyans and Namekians had been brought together as one large group because the Vargas claimed that they were the two most powerful races in their universe. "A piece of advice, be wary of these Saiyans. In my world they became a species bent around destruction; massacring whole planets and selling them in order to appease Frieza." warned Piccolo. "The only reason they were stopped was due to their betrayal by Frieza who destroyed their planet, and in part because a man named Goku and I fended off the last dangerous few of them." "In our universe, the Saiyans lack space travel." "But... you never encountered a dangerous Saiyan by the name of Broly or a demon named Garlic Jr.? The Big Gete Star?" Piccolo said, taken aback. A world without Frieza meant millions of spared lives, and it also meant that the Saiyans had never found a career in "genocidal real estate" during their enslavement by Frieza's empire. "I have never heard of any of these people." Nail went on to clarify that, although he hadn't witnessed it, it was the belief of their elders that Frieza the Tyrant had been disposed of by one of the Kaioshin, the Supreme Kai. The description matched that of one of the Supreme Kais that was standing in the first balcony wearing a mauve-colored tunic, a Kai who had white mohawk hair just like all of his colleagues. The same Supreme Kai that arrived on Earth to handle the situation with Babidi and Majin Buu, inadvertently becoming Kibitokai. Yet this version of the Supreme Kai, the Eastern Kaioshin, was somehow different. There was more air to him, a playful and brotherly side that opposed his prudent, cautious nature that Piccolo and his friends had seen. Many of the participants recognized the Kaioshins and yet few, no matter their alignment, made an effort to harass them. That was when Piccolo remembered Nail's first comment about how Universe 18 had only Piccolo himself. He studied the arena using his senses. "You were right, it seems like there's few universes that contain Namekians here." Nail faced him again, "That's because our people aren't very different from one place to another. I can sense the presence of auras that are violent and aggressive." "You mean you can sense the power level of other fighters even with suppression?" "Yes." "Then if it's not rude to ask, why are you all here? The Vargas have made no rule against killing and those who die will only be revived at the end if there is an ending. Against many of the opponents here, you and the Saiyans would be crushed like flies." Piccolo sternly warned. "Perhaps these Saiyans won't back down because they can't see what's awaiting them without scouters, I doubt that they can sense anything if they can't hide their own energy." "That is troubling, but we've made great strides in our discipline and our technology. I don't think we have much to fear from other Saiyans. The Vargas picked us to represent our universe's strongest fights for a reason." Understandingly, Piccolo nodded. "I see. Good luck through the tournament then." Nail started again, making the departing Piccolo stop in his tracks. "There is one variation of us though. It's in Universe 7, I asked one of the Vargas for any information they had on him." At the 7th balcony, there was a single Namekian that Piccolo had missed. He wore a brown tunic and pants with a long, purple scarf. His eyes were closed in a resting trance, but still there was a gesticulating aura around him that only the two Nameks could identify as anything more than breathing. With this observation, Nail continued: "In order to stop Frieza, the Namekians of that universe fused into one being. A Super-Namek. He defeated Frieza with ease, and while traveling through space he went onto slay a lizard monster that was threatening the universe and a pink demon as well. Both of those creatures are here by the way, or at least alternate versions of them." The Nameless Namek twitched, his nostril hopped, and he resumed sleeping. "I think he will win this tournament." OOOOOOO